Help for a desperate Switcher

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Dear all,

I am a new MacBook user who has come on-board thinking that this will put an end to my Tech frustrations. Contrary to my beliefs, I have been pretty disappointed by the lack of support and help in my switching, hence I have found my way here hoping I will get some kind help.

1. Picture editing
On windows, I used to use Adobe Photoshop or just normal paint to edit photos, ie cut a part of this photo to put on that photo, and click on that background button to remove the background. Is there anywhere on Mac I can do this and not have to spend a fortune on some programme?

2. Bit Torrent
I have tried to use Vuze and are not able to even search for videos, let alone download. is there anything I am doing wrong? Is there some firewall or what setting that I am not configurating properly?

3. Iphone
I am not able to copy photos freely to my Iphone from Mac. This is a bit of a pain as I had thought it will be a seamless operation since both are Apple products.

4. Video with WMV. I got this message saying its not able to play DRM protected content. I was like pretty frustrated already since I have not been able to do anything I used to be able to do on my PC

To make this worse, Apple came up with a new Macbook which is sleek like MBP one week after I bought my Macbook. Feel ripped off and disgruntled but trying to make best out of this.

Hope to get some help here.. Thanks a lot!

Yakkotofu:[
 

cwa107


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Dear all,

I am a new MacBook user who has come on-board thinking that this will put an end to my Tech frustrations. Contrary to my beliefs, I have been pretty disappointed by the lack of support and help in my switching, hence I have found my way here hoping I will get some kind help.

1. Picture editing
On windows, I used to use Adobe Photoshop or just normal paint to edit photos, ie cut a part of this photo to put on that photo, and click on that background button to remove the background. Is there anywhere on Mac I can do this and not have to spend a fortune on some programme?

I assume you want to do more than what iPhoto can. If that's the case, take a look at Pixelmator. The GIMP is free, but it's not exactly intuitive.

2. Bit Torrent
I have tried to use Vuze and are not able to even search for videos, let alone download. is there anything I am doing wrong? Is there some firewall or what setting that I am not configurating properly?

I assume YouTube, Hulu, etc isn't good enough because you're looking to download copyrighted material. If that's the case, you won't find help on this forum.

3. Iphone
I am not able to copy photos freely to my Iphone from Mac. This is a bit of a pain as I had thought it will be a seamless operation since both are Apple products.

Why not? What precludes you from doing so?

4. Video with WMV. I got this message saying its not able to play DRM protected content. I was like pretty frustrated already since I have not been able to do anything I used to be able to do on my PC

This is all you need for WMV:

Windows Media® Components for QuickTime

Other codecs here:

Perian - The swiss-army knife of QuickTime components

And of course, the ultimate video player:

VLC media player - Open Source Multimedia Framework and Player

To make this worse, Apple came up with a new Macbook which is sleek like MBP one week after I bought my Macbook. Feel ripped off and disgruntled but trying to make best out of this.

Hope to get some help here.. Thanks a lot!

Yakkotofu:[

Such is life with technology. The second you buy something, along comes something better. If it really bothers you that much, sell your MacBook and buy the newer model. They hold their resale value very well.
 
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Hi yakkotofu,

welcome to the forum.

1) There is a Mac version of Adobe Photoshop so you may want to use that. There are 2 free alternatives that I personally use those are inkscape and gimp.

2)For bittorent you should use transmission.

3)Photo copying should be pretty easy via itunes. So far I have no problems with that.

4) Try flip4mac to play WMV and perian to play any other type of media.
 
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I'm really sorry OP but you strike me as someone who thinks they can carry on with a Mac where they left off with windows without investing some sort of *effort* to learn the differences and expect everything on a plate.

I migrated from windows and found workarounds to play wmv videos within seconds, I have adobe photoshop liscences ( I am assuming you wish to download it via bit torrent) which installed with migrated liscenses from adobe with no problems.

Migrating pictures from your mac to iphone *is* a seamless procedure..you might be doing something drastically random as it really is almost impossible *not* to do it if you try.

I can hardly hold apple responsible for the timing of your purchase of your macbook, as their release schedules for new products do not revolve around when *you* buy their products...im curious as to how exactly they have ripped you off.

My advice to you would be to invest some time in learning your mac, maybe buy some books and practice.

Apple isn't really selling you a computer..they are selling you a lifestyle.
 
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I'm using utorrent which is a nice bittorrent client. Is transmission better?

Also, I like VLC since it basically plays everything.

I just bought a 13" MBP and now it looks like Apple is coming out with a tablet -- go figure -- but if I waited and got the tablet then something else would be new. Nature of the beast.
 

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One thing I think everyone missed is he is saying he can not play DRM Protected WMV's. I think that is his issue.

From all I have read it's not possible if it's a Windows Media file with DRM Protection.
 
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I'm using utorrent which is a nice bittorrent client. Is transmission better?

Also, I like VLC since it basically plays everything.

I just bought a 13" MBP and now it looks like Apple is coming out with a tablet -- go figure -- but if I waited and got the tablet then something else would be new. Nature of the beast.

well i've tried both. And I just feel that transmission has a better interface.
 
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thank you!

hey all,

i sincerely thank you all for your kind replies and help.

well i have long heard good stuff about the mac lifestyle and have been trying to figure my way around for the past 6 months, so suffice to say my post solicits help for issues that i have not been able to figure/read up on myself, and that i might covered enough ground to want to post a message here. :)

first, i would be glad if anyone can provide directions as to how i can go about configuring any of those torrent settings for me to be able to use Filesharing portals like Vuze. I am not specifically asking how I can be a pirate and start fishing for pirated movies on the net. I am aware of the Legal torrent sites and am a regular consumer of Legal DVDs.

second, I might have not been clear in my question about copying files from the Mac to my Iphone 3GS. I understand that there are some protection mechanism that only allows the Iphone to sync with one particular computer. I have managed to get around that by using HEX editor to manage my songs from my work PC and my home Macbook. However I am not able to drag and drop photos from my Macbook to my Iphone even in Itunes. How do you guys do that by the way?

Also when I try to delete photos from my Iphone using Iphoto, it does not happen when I select the photos and hit the 'Delete' button. How does one do that or do I have to manually delete em one by one from my Iphone?

Hope to get some help here, and I am really working on this transition, so pardon if I sounded out of line! well thanks and will hear from you kind people.

cheers
yakkotofu
 
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Dear all,

I am a new MacBook user who has come on-board thinking that this will put an end to my Tech frustrations. Contrary to my beliefs, I have been pretty disappointed by the lack of support and help in my switching, hence I have found my way here hoping I will get some kind help.

I think most problems have been covered for you but im just curious as to "the lack of support"
Who from Apple, the people you bought it off, another forum, your mates ??
Who didnt give you the support you where looking for ??

Cheers
 
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hey all,

i sincerely thank you all for your kind replies and help.

well i have long heard good stuff about the mac lifestyle and have been trying to figure my way around for the past 6 months, so suffice to say my post solicits help for issues that i have not been able to figure/read up on myself, and that i might covered enough ground to want to post a message here. :)

first, i would be glad if anyone can provide directions as to how i can go about configuring any of those torrent settings for me to be able to use Filesharing portals like Vuze. I am not specifically asking how I can be a pirate and start fishing for pirated movies on the net. I am aware of the Legal torrent sites and am a regular consumer of Legal DVDs.

second, I might have not been clear in my question about copying files from the Mac to my Iphone 3GS. I understand that there are some protection mechanism that only allows the Iphone to sync with one particular computer. I have managed to get around that by using HEX editor to manage my songs from my work PC and my home Macbook. However I am not able to drag and drop photos from my Macbook to my Iphone even in Itunes. How do you guys do that by the way?

Also when I try to delete photos from my Iphone using Iphoto, it does not happen when I select the photos and hit the 'Delete' button. How does one do that or do I have to manually delete em one by one from my Iphone?

Hope to get some help here, and I am really working on this transition, so pardon if I sounded out of line! well thanks and will hear from you kind people.

cheers
yakkotofu

I hate to hear of anyone having problems converting over.

Maybe you could run windows in Parallels or bootcamp and continue using the programs that your familiar and comfortable with while trying out OSX alternatives at the same time. Nothing wrong with that.

For example:

I've used emule and pageplus 9 (DTP) for sometime before I got the mac and I use them running under bootcamp. I havent found a better (easier) p2p for OSX so I'm sticking with emule. I tried imule...bah!

Pageplus is cheap, very easy and does what I need it to do so again, I stick with it.

Like you, I like certain software that runs under windows so dont fight it. Run your Windows programs on your Mac.

Edit: If forgot about the Acquisition application that looks very similar to emule except it's a pay-to-use.
 
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I think most problems have been covered for you but im just curious as to "the lack of support"
Who from Apple, the people you bought it off, another forum, your mates ??
Who didnt give you the support you where looking for ??

Cheers

i have to agree with him. i came here because the online support at other mac sites and forums is terrible. lots of unanswered questions and put-downs from snobs who think if you have a problem or an error, then it's your fault.
 
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....as for a bittorret.... is limewire illegal? never tried it on my mac, but i always thought it was legal (i buy from their store, but it does torrent also)
 
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Limewire is just a program, which in itself is not illegal. It's how you USE Limewire or any other torrent program that can be illegal. If you're using such a program to share your own files, that's perfectly legal. If you're using it to share or download copyrighted music, software, movies, etc, that is illegal.
 

cwa107


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And of course, Limewire opens up holes to allow your machine to act as a server. So, security is of concern if you have it installed as you have to trust that Limewire is keeping their application locked up fairly tight. Judging by their track record, that has not always been the case.
 
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an update

thank you very very much for your replies.

would like to seek help on the following as a follow-up:

a) i am looking for a program that allows me to:
1. add clip art
2. add customized text/shapes to pictures
3. apply filter to create effects
4. change colour of the subjects in the pictures

something like picnik and splash up that is local and not web-based, or something like picasa, that offers a lil more, ie allow me to add text, clipart and customize my photos..
iphoto is pretty good except that it doesnt allow me to add text/add clipart.

and i dont think i can afford something like adobe.. any suggestions?

b) my itunes does not have any option for me to manage (add/delete) photo to my iphone 3gs without syncing my photos to my library, and iphoto does not allow me to drag and drop photo into my iphone from my photo library, and does not allow me to delete photos from the iphone by hitting delete button.

c) i am using videora to convert videos to mp4 for my iphone 3gs. does anyone have any suggestions of any program i can use to convert avi/flv/wmv to mp4 on mac in batch, cos videora only allows me to convert them one by one.

what am i doing wrong here?
 
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To get all your photos onto your iPhones just drag and drop/import them into iPhoto then sync your phones with itunes making sure you have selected which photo you want putting on your phone via itunes. Also if you delete photos from iPhoto and then sync they should be gone out of the phone or at least it will give you a warning as to whether you want them replacing or something like that.

Not sure why peeps haven't just told you this.....

Something that really used to annoy me was when I hooked up my iPhone, iPhoto would always open pointlessly most of the time. To stop this happening go into iPhoto preferences, general, connecting camera opens, and set that to no application.

Hoped this helped you bud =]
 
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You can remove backgrounds from selected items in a photo using Preview which comes with the Mac. It's easy. It can be done in more than one way too.
 
C

chas_m

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If it's not too late for a fresh set of answers to this:

1. Picture editing
On windows, I used to use Adobe Photoshop or just normal paint to edit photos, ie cut a part of this photo to put on that photo, and click on that background button to remove the background. Is there anywhere on Mac I can do this and not have to spend a fortune on some programme?

iPhoto isn't really a "photo editor" in the sense of Adobe Photoshop. If you used Adobe Photoshop on Windows, I presume you have a license, since otherwise it would be illegal.

A number of my clients have switched to Mac and called Adobe to switch their license to the Mac version. Generally speaking, Adobe will do this for just the cost of a "normal" upgrade.

In addition, many find that Adobe Photoshop Elements is everything they need and then some. The current version for the Mac is Version 8, and it seems to sell for $99 retail (and often less from merchants like Amazon). From your description of what you want to do, it sounds perfect for you.

Less-expensive alternatives tend to be harder to use, but of course with a little self-teaching can be perfectly fine. I have used GraphicConverter ($40 shareware), primarily for their batch conversions but its a "poor man's Photoshop" in some sense. People used to Linux conventions often cite The Gimp (free), but I've never warmed up to it myself. Several others of equal inelegance have already been mentioned.

There's also the well-regarded Pixelmator ($50 IIRC) and a little 6-trick pony called Picturesque ($20) I'm really warming up to for prepping web images (which I do a lot).

3. Iphone
I am not able to copy photos freely to my Iphone from Mac.

Actually you can. All you need to do is plug the iPhone into the dock connected to your Mac, and that's it. By default, iTunes will open and sync with your phone, copying your pictures to iPhoto automatically. You can also set which (if any) of your iPhoto pictures you want to store on the iPhone.

If you have automatic sync turned off, of course, then you have to invoke it manually. Still, it's at most a single click -- really couldn't be any simpler.

4. Video with WMV. I got this message saying its not able to play DRM protected content. I was like pretty frustrated already since I have not been able to do anything I used to be able to do on my PC

As has already been mentioned, you simply need to install Windows Media Components for QuickTime (usually referred to by its original name, Flip4Mac WMV Player), free from Microsoft, and Perian (free from Perian - The swiss-army knife of QuickTime components) to allow QuickTime to play nearly any video on the web.

It's also an excellent idea to have VLC on hand (again, free) for those videos QuickTime can't handle properly (like, for example, subtitled MKVs).

DRM-protected Windows Media files are unplayable on Macs. This is why DRM sucks, and why I'm so happy iTunes doesn't use it for music anymore.

To make this worse, Apple came up with a new Macbook which is sleek like MBP one week after I bought my Macbook. Feel ripped off and disgruntled but trying to make best out of this.

Unless you believe they did this specifically to spite you, I'm not sure why you would feel "ripped off and disgruntled." Apple releases new products periodically. In the Mac community, it is generally well-known in the short period beforehand that an update is coming. You weren't a part of the Mac community at the time, so you bought what you needed when you needed it.

Depending on where you bought it, you could have returned it within a week, but again -- what's wrong with the one you got? Nothing. If you were to somehow trade it for a newer one, would Apple then shortly release yet another one? Yes.

Enjoy your computer while you have it, sell it when you think you need a new one, and buy the best one available when you need it. Forget about the endless cycle of upgrades -- at best you'll have the "best" one for a few months, tops. What's important is whether the one YOU have does what you want it to do, and when the time comes for you to get a new one it will be better regardless.

Cheers
chas_m

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